Thirston House

Thirston House sits in its own grounds, on a hill above the River Coquet, in the village of West Thirston in the old parish of Felton in Northumberland, United Kingdom. In 1904 it was recorded that Thirston House 'has recently been sold by Mr. T. W. Smith to Mr. Edward Newton of Newcastle'. The house, with its attached buildings and courtyard wall, is listed on the National Heritage List for England as a Grade II Listed Building. The listing dates from 1969. The website for Historic England records that the house was built around 1820 by John Dobson for the Newton family. It describes the front of the house as built of ashlar with two storeys, four bays, and with 12-pane sash windows. The front also has a central Tuscan porch, with panelled double doors, in front of which is a raised platform reached by three steps. The porch was glazed in 1902 when the interior of the house was altered and remodelled. The entrance hall and open stair well were panelled and decorative plaster ceilings added. The website also describes the rear wing and the outbuildings. The rear wing is built of squared stone, with a grey slate roof, and set back from the front of the house. It has four irregular bays. The first three bays had a first floor added in 1902. This with the outbuildings form an L shape and with the stable wing enclose three sides of the rear courtyard. A yard wall, with square gate piers, links to the end of the stable wing. At the back of the stable wing is a boarded loading door with a re-used stone lintel inscribed TD 1728.
The house is also mentioned in several publications including the revised Pevsner's The Buildings of England: Northumberland in 1992, Henry Dobson's book on John Dobson in 2000, and Faulkner and Greg's book on John Dobson in 2001. Pevsner describes the house in three lines and states that it 'is said to be an early work of Dobson' and that it was remodelled in 1902. In Henry Dobson's book are three black and white photographs of the house, from different viewpoints, and a close-up photo of the Tuscan porch. Dobson also states that 'the sections of the east side of the house, to the right and left of the three bay (central) porch, are clearly of different periods'. He also repeats the information that the house was built about 1820 for the Newton family. There is no mention of the house in Faulkner and Greg's chapter on 'Country Houses, Greek and Gothic, 1820-1862'. It is merely listed in a 'Catalogue of Works by John Dobson', at the end of their book, and is described as 'classical house for Newton family, incorporating some earlier work, c.1820'.
John Dobson was a 19th century architect with a distinctive style, well known in the north of England. He is probably best known for designing Central Station in Newcastle upon Tyne, and his work with Richard Grainger in redesigning Newcastle city centre in the Neo-classical style. He built, enlarged and altered hundreds of churches, public buildings and mansion houses during his career, and as Faulkner and Greg state, he built Thirston House in a classical style onto an earlier building. As it was recorded in 1904 that Thirston House had recently been sold by Mr. T. W. Smith to Mr. Edward Newton, it could not have been the Newton family who commissioned its building or enlargement in 1820.